Ex-rival vouches for Hugin’s pro-life credentials

A longtime New Jersey pro-life advocate says that he’s satisfied with U.S. Senate candidate Bob Hugin’s position on abortion.

“I know that he opposes late term abortion and will support any judges proposed by President Trump,” said Richard Pezzullo, who dropped out of the race this week to endorse Hugin.

The Hugin campaign clarified Pezzullo’s depiction on the new candidate’s views.

“Bob opposes late-term abortions unless the life of the mother is at risk,” said Sarah Neibart, the deputy campaign manager. “As Senator, Bob will vet each judicial nominee on their own merit and record.  He thought Judge (Neil) Gorsuch was an excellent choice and would generally be supportive of nominees who fit that profile.”

Pezzullo says that Hugin “hasn’t gone through the wringer at New Jersey Right to Life, so I cannot speak for his positions on all the issues.”

“I’ll let his questionnaire speak for itself,” Pezzullo said. “Absent that information, I feel that the interests of the unborn are best served when there are judges in place which will protect their unalienable rights.”

As a chief executive officer of pharmaceutical giant Celgene, Hugin avoided the controversy over embryonic stem cells by conducting research using full-term human placental tissue.  On Thursday, a Celgene spin-off company said it raised $250 million in capital to develop cells from placentas to attack tumors and in the treatment of Crohn’s disease.

Pezzullo says that Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez supports abortion rights and has opposed many of Trump’s judicial nominees.

“Bob Hugin will support the president in his efforts to place judges on the bench who will defend the constitution, not attempt to re-write it to suit their particular brand of politics,” said Pezzullo.  We are stronger together in accomplishing this goal.  It’s not federal legislation that will ultimately tip the balance of rights for the most vulnerable, but attacks on state legislation that get elevated to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Pezzullo says that electing Hugin “will give the silent generation a better chance of ending their holocaust.”